Defense & Intelligence Policy, Business and Technology

How Bad Was Trump's Taiwan Phone Call?

Foreign Policy: President-elect Donald Trump’s phone call to Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on December 2 rattled international audiences. The United States switched diplomatic relations to Taiwan in 1979, acknowledging the primacy of the One China policy, and there has not been an American presidential phone call to the president of Taiwan since. Experts are warning that Beijing will come back hard at the Trump team. They are probably right. Others have noted that this will inevitably raise conflict-of-interest questions about the Trump Organization’s desire to get into the Taoyuan Aerotropolis urban development project in Taiwan..

However, some historical perspective is also necessary. This breach of protocol and custom is not unprecedented. In 1980-1981, the incoming Reagan administration promised to renormalize relations with Taiwan and then invited senior Taiwanese officials to the official inaugural celebrations. Beijing was livid. Those early and controversial overtures to Taiwan reflected Reagan’s own close ties to the leadership in Taipei dating back to his time as governor of California. They, like Trump’s call, were brokered and led by the new National Security Council (NSC) team under Richard Allen before the secretary of state or his senior deputies were in place.

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